Decision on Justice Center awaited

While the BAM-BAM-BAM of pile drivers continues at the site where the Bergen County Justice Center will be built, county officials and two construction companies are awaiting an appellate court decision that could delay the largest public works project in the county's history.

Attorneys for all sides have filed their legal briefs with the court on whether the county acted properly when it awarded a $65.9 million contract to Dobco Construction Services of Wayne for a six-story building and adjacent parking garage next to the old County Jail on Court Street in Hackensack.

The company that submitted the second-lowest bid, Terminal Construction Corp. of Wood-Ridge, contends Dobco's bid had a "fatal" flaw. Dobco listed a subcontractor, Abco Electrical, that did not have a licensed electrician on its payroll when the bids were submitted in February, lawyers for Terminal said.

Superior Court Judge Robert P. Contillo agreed that Abco needed to have an electrician as an employee or partner to comply with the state's public-bidding laws. But Contillo ruled last month that the problem could be resolved if Abco hired the electrician it planned to use, and the firm did.

Terminal's lawyers contend the judge erred. They want work on the next phase of the project - the actual construction of the Justice Center and parking garage - to be halted until the case can be decided by the appellate court.

Terminal's lawyer, Louis Rainone, argued that to allow the project to continue will harm his client, which bid $71.8 million for the work.

"Terminal's ability to obtain a legal remedy is irreparably destroyed and the public interest will not be served if the county is permitted to proceed with an illegal contract," Rainone wrote.

The county and Dobco maintain that the bidding process was thorough and proper. They contend that halting the project will hurt taxpayers by adding $5,400 to the cost of the project for each day of delay, plus the loss of savings from Dobco's lower bid.

"Terminal's sole hardship is a mere potential loss of profit. The County and its taxpayers, however, will undoubtedly suffer real and irreparable harm in the form of an increased contract cost of some 6 million dollars," wrote Lee Tesser, an attorney for the county.

The overall project, estimated to cost $147 million, also calls for construction of a public works garage and renovation of the county's 102-year-old courthouse.

Public Works Director Joe Crifasi said last week that about 65 percent of the project's 500 steel piles had been driven into the earth and that the rest would be pounded in within a month.

The next phase calls for building a 130,000-square-foot structure that will house the prosecutor's and sheriff's offices and the Probation Department. The plan also calls for a 264,575-square-foot parking garage and a two-story skywalk connecting the Justice Center to the old courthouse.

A spokeswoman for the courts said no hearing has been scheduled on Terminal's request for a further stay of the project and that it is possible the judge will rule on the legal briefs alone.